The Office: 15 Little-Known Early Roles Of The Show’s Stars

15 Jenna Fischer

Jenna Fischer appeared in That 70s Show as Stacy Wanamaker, the most perfect, beautiful girl to ever attend the gang's high school. The episode “Don’t Lie To Me” aired on January 5th 2005, just two months before The Office premiered its pilot episode on March 24th. Enjoy this incredibly low-quality video of her time on the show.

14 John Krasinski

John Krasinski played one feisty basketball player in the season three episode “Mad Hops” of Law and Order Criminal Intent. Don’t mess with Krasinski when his milky white body is in a jersey!

13 Steve Carell

Steve Carell was featured on an episode of the soap opera All My Children as “Squidhead” who is “a friend from cyberspace.” This episode dates back all the way to 1996, a simpler time when no one knew how to talk about the internet just yet.

12 Rainn Wilson

The best part about rewatching Galaxy Quest is seeing young 1999 Rainn Wilson stand around as an alien in the background! Rainn played the hell out of his character Lahnk, so it's no wonder Rob Zombie wanted him for House of A Thousand Corpses.

11 Leslie David Baker

Leslie David Baker pops up everywhere in early 2000s sitcoms. He was on an episode of Scrubs as a surgery patient, a cop on Malcolm In The Middle, and a janitor on That 70s Show. Would it surprise you to learn he usually plays a grumpy guy?

10 Brian Baumgartner

Brian Baumgartner is in Arrested Development as a gun salesman for two seconds in the episode “Burning Love.” Get that screen time baby!

9 Angela Kinsey

I implore you to please go to this link and watch this wild Bill Clinton sketch from Mind Of Mencia with Angela Kinsey as Hillary Clinton. It’s like if you made A.I. watch 100 hours of sketch comedy and let it make its own version.

8 Kate Flannery

Kate Flannery pops up in the “Corpse Sniffing Dog” episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm way back in 2002. Flannery plays a police officer which is a far cry away from her booze-loving Meredith Palmer. 

7 Oscar Nuñez

Oscar Nuñez was an accomplished improviser before The Office, and one of the best showcase of those skills is from Oscar’s episodes as Spanish Mike Alvarez on Reno 911.

6 Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling appeared as Richard Lewis’s assistant in the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, “Lewis Needs A Kidney.” Larry informs her that her boss is dying and tries to console her by touching her hair, which does not go well.

5 Craig Robinson

Craig Robinson can be spotted in the Arrested Development season two episode titled “Switch Hitter” as a studio guard who talks to Tobias and George Michael. Craig Robinson also pops up in Friends as a name change clerk, but we’ve already mentioned that a few times.

4 Ellie Kemper

Ellie Kemper was featured in a couple Late Night With Conan O’Brien sketches during the time that she interned there. This is also where she met her husband Michael Koman, who is featured alongside her in the sketch.

3 Zach Woods

The improvising savant, Zach Woods, has a quick scene in The Other Guys with Steve Coogan.

“Hey Douglas! How’s the wife?”

“She died.”

“Atta boy!”

2 Creed Bratton

Creed was so busy rocking and rolling that he was pretty hard to find. He can be seen for a sliver as a court clerk in the 1986 Disney TV movie A Fighting Choice. Rumor also has it he plays a carnival ticket taker in the movie Mask, but you didn’t hear it from me.

1 Rashida Jones

Rashida Jones played the scary bully Karen Scarfolli in the episode “Kim Kelly Is My Friend” on Freaks and Geeks. No wonder she came to The Office as Paul Feig was involved heavily with both shows. 

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Top Image: Dreamworks